No Pain, No Game
by Vanui
Summary: Life is hard, but high school is harder, especially trapped in the midst of a love triangle and being dragged into the basketball team. Their nationwide famous basketball team. The pressure's on. AU


The day was like any other; sunny, dotted with wisps of white clouds and scatterings of grey pollution on the horizon, and the sky as blue as could be. So she had decided to take a walk to one of the better local parks and throw out her leftover, slightly stale bread from last week and feed the birds. What made this day different from any other, however, was the unexpected comment she heard while standing by the edge of the fountain, watching the pigeons peck away at her crumbs.

"They like French bread better," a low, sultry voice spoke up, interrupting her mid-throw and jarring her out of her thoughts. Her head shot up while a light summer breeze lifted her blonde locks into her vision, and for a moment, her view of the stranger was obscured.

"Pardon?" She held her hair back with her breadless hand and blinked. Standing before her (or rather, towering over her) was the tallest person she had ever seen off of television and the internet, and unable to contain her astonishment, a surprised "woah" escaped her lips.

The tall stranger cocked an amused eyebrow, and she flushed at her outburst. "French bread. The pigeons, they like that better than regular loaf bread, or so I've been told."

She had to pull her eyes away from the stranger's unkempt hair and piercing dark eyes, and instead they fell on the light sprinkle of freckles across the stranger's cheeks. "Who told you that?" she asked.

"Someone else who likes to feed the damn pests," the stranger smirked, and she felt a prickle of irritation at the mysterious statement.

"I see." Frowning, she squinted up at the stranger's relaxed pose and wondered why in the world they had stopped to talk to her about her bird feeding bait. Several seconds passed, neither person moving or speaking, and so she impatiently continued, "Well then, if you'll excuse me-"

"Ymir," the stranger nonchalantly finished.

She twitched at the interruption. What a strange name. "Please excuse me, Ymir," she tried again and threw in a mocking nod of her head. Normally, she'd be polite, but something about the stranger put her on edge. It wasn't threatening, per se, but it was certainly unsettling, and she couldn't wait to leave and be done with the birds, the park, and the stranger. She threw her remaining bread to the ground and watched as the pigeons immediately began to tear it to shreds.

Before she had taken more than two steps away, however, the stranger was looming over her once more and blocking her path. "I believe," Ymir the stranger started, "that it is customary to introduce yourself to someone once they have given you their name."

She stared at Ymir, wondering how serious she was, and she realized the stranger wasn't kidding. "Krista," she reluctantly gave out and sighed.

"A pleasure," Ymir grinned. It was the most smug grin she had ever seen, and her hand twitched with the urge to wipe it right off that face.

"Sure," she replied. "A pleasure. Goodbye now." She leaped past the stranger and jogged quickly to the park's exit, feeling slightly uneasy and more than a little aware of the dark eyes following her out.

"Bye," she heard, and then she was free. Whatever. She wasn't going to see the tall stranger again anyway because this park was officially off her list of hangouts for the next five or so years. "After a few years on your own, you sure know your way around creeps and weirdos, Krista," she muttered to herself, then shook her head and picked up the pace.

That was the first time she met the strange, tall girl named Ymir, and although she did not visit that park again for a good while, true to her word, she would somehow end up running into Ymir again. And again. And again and again.

At least, she would say later on, she found out who liked to feed French bread to the pigeons.

* * *

"When was the last time you did anything with your life?"

Krista turned her head to look at the flashing screen of a television advertisement. Through the shop's display window, she watched as a balding man sat in an unmoving position, pictured in various scenes of mundane, daily activities. First was the kitchen, a hot cup of coffee untouched on the table. Next was the train, packed and filled to the brim. After that was an office desk piled high with paperwork amongst the display of an outdated computer screen. Lunch, more work, dinner by himself at a lonesome ramen shop, and then he went to bed.

A familiar tune popped up in the background, and the narrator proudly declared, "Fear not! For with a little bit of Orange Rescue, your day will go from boring to exciting in seconds!" A man in a bright orange jumpsuit suddenly invaded the balding man's home, riding on a zipline, and produced a bottle of the advertised drink with a smile. One sip later, the balding man joined him with a smile of his own.

The screen cut to black, and disclaimers too fast to understand flashed past, but Krista had already moved on. "If only life were that simple," she smiled ruefully. "One sip of a magic drink, and your life changes for the better."

She swallowed thickly. Adjusted the strap of her dark blue book bag. Continued to walk. Wondered, for her own amusement, if Orange Rescue really was that good. It certainly was everywhere.

A blink of an eye later, footsteps and animated voices reached her ears, and she refocused on the world.

"Did you catch the latest episode of Unnatural Occurrences?" a boy's voice asked.

"The one where they went to an abandoned castle and tried to find ghosts?" a second boy's voice returned. This one sounded vaguely bored. "Like every other episode?"

"Oh, come on. The episode before that, they were in an abandoned hospital! And the one before that, a school! Oh man, Armin, dude, what if there're ghosts in our school?" the first voice rambled. "We totally need to sneak in at night some-"

"You will do nothing of the sort," a female voice broke in, so abruptly cold and emotionless that Krista turned around in surprise to face the conversation. The first thing she noticed were that they wore the same khaki colored vests over short-sleeved polos that she currently sported. The same red tie. Dark grey skirts. Well, the boys had pants on, but they were also a dark grey shade. They were, in short, fellow students at the same school. Immediate unease began to bubble in her chest.

"Mom doesn't have to know, Mikasa. It'll be a little harmless test of courage," the boy goaded. His black hair bounced with every step he took, and as he turned to his other male companion, Armin. Krista's eyes fell on a mop of blonde hair as bright as her own. "Right, Armin?"

"Eren, if you want to get in trouble after your very first day of school, then don't drag me into it," Armin sighed.

"You just want to go home and play videogames all night," Eren pouted. Before he had a chance to say anymore, Mikasa had his ear in her grip and, judging by how white her knuckles were, she was holding onto it very, very tightly.

"Eren. If you so much as take one step out of your room tonight, I will ensure that you do not make it past the bathroom door," she stated. Krista thought she was joking, but from the way Eren immediately turned pasty white, she believed Mikasa would stay true to her word.

"Ow, ow, okay, Mikasa, I get it," Eren quickly conceded. Then his sea green eyes made contact with Krista's and brightened up with excitement. He jerked his head away from Mikasa's death grip, and Krista reflexively took a step back. "Oh, hey there!"

However silly it was, she momentarily wondered if it was too late to pretend she had never seen the trio, but there was no getting out of it now. "Hey," she hesitantly greeted. Mikasa and Armin were gazing at her too, and with three pairs of eyes focused on her small form, she wanted nothing more than to turn around and start running. She should've just kept walking.

"Your uniform, it looks kind of familiar," Eren joked. "Are you a first year?"

"Yeah," Krista responded.

"Woah, us too. Name's Eren Yeager," he grinned, holding his hand out. Taken aback by his friendliness, Krista faltered for a second before grasping the hand meekly and shaking.

"Krista Lenz," she returned. Their hands separated, and soon enough, Mikasa and Armin were close by with their own hands extended.

"Armin Arlert," the blonde boy gently smiled, and they shook.

"Mikasa Ackerman," the dark-haired girl solemnly gave out, eyes glinting with scrutiny. Her grip was surprisingly firm, very firm, and Krista bit back a wince when she retracted her fingers.

"Nice to meet you all," she smiled, but it came out forced. She only hoped it wasn't too obvious.

They returned the saying with slight nods of their heads, and it was only then that Krista noticed a curious duffel bag weighing down on Mikasa's shoulder. The black container was stuffed to the brim, so much so that Krista questioned how she could have missed seeing the thing until now. Armin caught her gaze.

"Ah," Armin spoke up. "Guess you noticed the extra baggage, eh. I told her she wouldn't need it on the first day, but she insisted."

"Need it?" Krista blinked. Need what, their gym uniform? Wasn't that small enough to fit in their book bags?

"A change of clothes, water bottle, towel, and shoes," the black-haired girl listed. "And food. Energizing snacks. Electrolytes."

Krista stared in confusion. The three of them stared back.

"Oh," Armin gasped, comprehension dawning, "perhaps you don't know."

"You can't expect everyone to know," Mikasa rolled her eyes.

"Know what?" Krista asked. Were they some kind of popular underground drug dealers or something?

"Mikasa here was specially recruited by our high school," Eren beamed, "to play basketball."

It took a second for the statement to fully process. Basketball. She vaguely remembered hearing her school was famous for their girls basketball team, but her mind had been so focused on knowing its education rating at the time that the fact completely slipped her mind. "So then, er," Krista stammered, unsure of how to react, "Congratulations?"

"Thank you," Mikasa shrugged. She blushed, showing emotion for the first time and thoroughly surprising Krista, as Eren wrapped an affectionate arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a side hug.

"She's gonna be a superstar, and you're lucky enough to meet her before the fame sets in," he grinned.

"Don't be ridiculous," muttered Mikasa, swatting him on the arm, but she didn't pull away.

Observing the exchange, Krista couldn't help but ask, "Are you two going out?" In an instant, Mikasa turned beet red and vehemently shook her head while Eren merely looked completely mind-boggled at the idea. She blinked at the vast difference between their reactions. "Oh, uh, sorry. That was out of line."

"Guys, I hate to interrupt, but we have around five minutes before the gates close," Armin broke in, reminding them that he was present, and he tapped his watch for emphasis. "We aren't anywhere near the gates."

"Shit."

"Language."

Instantly back to their old selves, Eren and Mikasa spared Armin and Krista a quick glance, and that was it. They took off like a rush of wind, feet pounding into the sidewalk, and after a few stunned seconds, she heard Armin say, "We should probably start running, too."

God, she hadn't run in years.

They made it though, sweat running down her forehead and stickiness aside, and the student attending to the gate gave them a stern look before shutting the black iron shut. She and Armin bent over and panted, desperately trying to catch their breaths, and gripped their knees for support.

"That... was... awful," Krista huffed, simply letting her bag slide off her arm and onto the ground.

"Yeah," Armin faintly breathed out. "But... we still gotta... make it to class..."

Sighing, she heaved herself upright and wiped her face off with her sleeve. With a determined glint to her eye, she pulled Armin up as well and merely said, "Better get going then."

She heard the boy chuckle and, despite the adrenaline pumping through her veins and the amount of years she lost off her life, found herself smiling in turn. Somehow, she had made a friend. A few friends, maybe. That was more than she'd expected to make the first month.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Or maybe this would be worse.

"Now class, I'd like you to take turns introducing yourselves briefly to your peers," a stern, rather short man requested from the front of the room. His hair was boyish, cut short but not too short, and he vaguely reminded Krista of Eren except with much harsher eyes. And the height, of course. He cleared his voice once and gripped the wooden podium tightly. "I'll start with myself. My name is Levi, just Levi, and you shall address me as Mr. Levi. If I ever find a scrap of garbage or anything remotely unclean in this room, every single one of you runts are going to be sitting in detention for a week. Do I make myself clear?"

Perfect. An OCD homeroom teacher.

"Yes sir," a tall, bulky blonde near the front of the room nodded. At Levi's threatening stare, the rest of the room echoed the same sentiment.

"Good." He turned. "You," he pointed, "continue."

Since they were seated in alphabetical order, Mikasa was the first to go. As she stood, Krista wondered if it ever bothered the girl to have her last name start with an "A" and suffer through years of being at the front of the line. Almost as if she could sense Krista's questioning, Mikasa's eyes flashed dangerously as she glared right back at their teacher and offered, "Shouldn't we be waiting for our last student to come in first?"

Krista swallowed at the withering look Levi gave the black-haired girl. She was surprised, though, having realized they were indeed missing a student, as the seat behind a ponytailed girl was strangely empty.

"What is your name?" Levi growled.

"Mikasa Ackerman," the girl sneered.

"Ah, the basketball star," he sniffed. "I assume you know our missing student, then?"

"She should be-"

The door slid open and slammed into the wall with such force that the doorframe shook, sending several students into pain as they smashed various body parts into their desks in surprise.

"Whoops, sorry," a familiar voice apologized, and when the missing student casually strolled into the room, hands behind her head, Krista could not help exclaiming her sheer disbelief.

"You! Oh my god, are you stalking me?"

She watched as the freckles on the student's face moved as (what was her name, again?) the same tall stranger from that day in the park appeared stunned, then after a quick once over Krista's visage, smiled. Then she was aware of every single pair of eyes in the room trained on her.

Oh no. No no no nonono.

The stranger's smile grew wider as she noticed her panic, and in a heartbeat, she responded, "Don't flatter yourself. It should be the other way around, kid."

Kid? That did it. The rest of her sanity and self-control slipped away as she barked, "Oh yeah? Why are you so high and mighty, creep? You look way too old to be a freshman in high school."

The tall girl had her mouth poised to respond when their teacher decided to restore order to the room by dragging a piece of chalk down the board, the resulting noise so horrible and unbearable that everyone instantly slammed their palms over their ears.

The embarrassment sunk in after the room quieted down, and Krista flushed as her high school career died before her very eyes.

Once he'd wiped his chalky fingers off and tucked his handkerchief back into his pocket, Levi let his eyes roam silently over the room. He noted, with particular satisfaction, the fear that greeted him in turn. "Now if we're done throwing tantrums and petty insults," he sighed, feeling a headache coming on, "let's continue."

The stranger nonchalantly walked over to the empty seat and sat down, patting the ponytailed girl's head on the way.

Having decided that making Levi any madder wasn't worth the effort, Mikasa stood up once more and put the painful deed behind herself. "Mikasa Ackerman. I like basketball. Nice to meet you all." She abruptly sat back down.

A couple more students spoke and took their turns before the stranger was up. Did Armin go? He should have gone. He was sitting right behind Mikasa. So in shock was she that Krista nearly missed the stranger's introduction, but her ears instantly latched onto the stranger's soothingly husky voice when she spoke. No, not soothing. Irritating. Annoying. Creepy. Weird.

"Ymir Blouse. I play basketball."

Strange. Definitely not interesting. Or attractive. No, why would she even think that? This girl was clearly a sta-

Basketball. Did she say basketball? Crap. Their school was famous for their girls basketball team. Oh no.

"_Don't flatter yourself. It should be the other way around, kid."_

Dread filled the pit of her stomach.

The rest of the introductions blurred by, including her own, and then several of their teachers came in and did their introductions too. But her mind finally caught up to speed when lunch rolled by and she found herself surrounded by... By a bunch of shallow, gossipy group of girls. In a corner of the school. By the staircase.

She hadn't even really been thinking about anything in particular, only settled into a nice blank state of mind, and forgot all about her self-preservation instincts. Like not antagonizing her homeroom teacher. Or blurting out and nearly getting into a fight in front of the entire class. Or waltzing into back corners of the school by herself.

How did she end up here anyway?

Oh. Right, she forgot her lunch at home and needed to buy some from the cafeteria. She froze as the girls turned their overly decorated faces toward her small form, despite her efforts to safely sneak past.

"Hey, it's the new girl." This girl had a particularly nasty case of too much eye shadow going on, and she could have been mistaken for a raccoon, Krista thought.

"Not from this district are you? You didn't go to the middle school, did you?"

No, Krista answered in her head, she did not. Was it really that strange for people to attend a high school outside their districts?

"Look at her, what a little runt. Maybe she went to the wrong school today."

Oh. It was a setup for a joke at her expense. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Well, it was her fault for trespassing on their territory in the first place. "Listen, I didn't mean to come here. I'll just be on my way, and I'll never-"

"Wait. Girls, wait."

Krista stared, confused, as who was clearly the ringleader walked forward and stared her down.

"This was the one badmouthing Ymir earlier today." The girls gasped, some clearly faked, and others genuine. Krista sighed once more. This was what she had been afraid of.

"Really? This runt had the gall to insult Ymir?"

Because where any athletic stars were-

"We should teach this bitch a lesson. Coming here and insulting Ymir, to boot?"

"No one gets away with insulting our Ymir."

-fangirls followed.

"I just wanted to have a peaceful high school life," Krista whined, sighed a third time, and immediately turned around and began to sprint away. It was funny, though, no matter how bad this situation was, because at least she was getting some much needed exercise.

"Come back here!"

"Slow down!"

"We just want to be friends!"

"Those are the worst lines I have ever heard," Krista panted darkly to herself. Shaking her head, she sharply turned a corner and managed to see blonde locks of hair before she promptly crashed into what felt like a pair of decently sized breasts. They didn't fall, though, as the assailed person had enough strength to wrap her arms around the escaping girl and steady them both with skilled footing.

Dazed, Krista had zero time to comprehend what was going on before the patter of feet chasing her stopped somewhere within her vicinity and the stampede chase ended. She hoped it ended, anyway. She couldn't do this anymore, running twice in a day after years of inactivity.

However, nothing happened. Absolute silence echoed throughout the room, and Krista regained her senses enough to realize her face was still planted right between her savior's breasts. Red coloring her cheeks, she lifted her arms up and tried to push off the girl's stomach, only to realize that this girl had abs. Solid, rock hard abs. A six pack, if she had to guess, and she wondered who in the world had a six pack in high school.

Her savior resisted her push and stifled her movements by tightening her arms in their hold. "Don't move," she whispered into her ear. Krista couldn't help the shudder that shot down her spine at the hot breath that tickled her skin. Nonetheless, she obeyed, but only after shifting her neck so that she was looking at the girl's neck, and the girl's chin buried itself into Krista's head. Her skin was very pale, Krista thought.

"What do you girls think you're doing?" a strong voice commanded, and Krista watched as the girl's throat vibrated with the sound. She must be short, Krista realized, if I can bury my face in her neck.

"Nothing!"

"We were, uh, showing the new girl around."

"We're all new here," her savior darkly pointed out. "Unless the lot of you are classless enough to chase an underclassman around and hang around the first year area."

"We're so sorry!" another girl wailed, and Krista recognized her as the ringleader. It would be hard to miss that shrill and nasally voice. "We won't bother her again. Promise."

"We didn't know she belonged to you, Leonhart, ma'am!"

Krista heard her savior give a heavy and exasperated sigh. "Just go," the girl commanded, and the pounding footfalls signaled their retreat. Then the arms wrapped around her quickly disappeared and she was free.

The first feature she observed about her savior was her startlingly bright blue eyes. The next was her very... obtrusive nose. The blue eyes met Krista's own, watched her for a few moments and turned away.

The girl was very beautiful in a strangely rough, yet soft, manner. She was definitely built like a bodybuilder, but her feminine curves were still quite captivating, and Krista found herself drawn to the strength she found in that form. The very same form that was now walking away.

"Wait!" Krista called, running after her. She grabbed the girl's arm. "Thank you. For catching me, and... and driving those girls away."

She expected those eyes to be cold when they looked over at her, but instead, they were blank. Soulless, even, as if the girl wasn't all there. "You're welcome," the girl replied, and gently pulled away from Krista's grip.

"I'm Krista, Krista Lenz," she suddenly blurted out. When the girl didn't respond, she prodded, "Who are you?"

The girl almost seemed to consider not answering, then shook her head and ran a tired hand through her blonde bangs. "Annie," she stated. "Leonhart."

Again, Annie tried to walk away, but Krista grabbed her wrist and refused to let go. "Let me thank you properly," Krista offered. "It's the least I can do." Otherwise her mother in heaven would strangle her for her bad manners.

"...I appreciate the offer, but-"

Seeing that she would be shot down, Krista's eyes darted around for a solution and landed on a potential candidate. "How about," she started, dragging Annie by the wrist as she walked over, "a drink? This'll take one second, okay?"

She watched, quietly amused, as Annie hosted an internal debate, frowned, blonde eyebrows scrunching together, and her blue eyes rapidly switched between Krista and the vending machine and back and forth before she squeezed her eyelids shut and sighed in resignation. "Alright. One drink," she conceded.

"Yes!" Krista cheered, then immediately caught herself. She felt as if any sudden or loud movements would scare Annie right off. "What would you like?"

"Anything is fine," the blonde shrugged.

"Okay, well, there's this drink I've been thinking of trying out..."

Once they each had a bottle of Orange Rescue in their respective grips, they stood in front of the machine in dead silence, both unsure of how to proceed. Finally, Annie unscrewed the cap to her drink and took a sip. "It's good," Annie remarked after a few seconds. "Thank you."

Krista tried to respond, but Annie was already gone. She briefly entertained the thought of going after her a second time, but threw the thought out of her head and contented herself with simply watching Annie's back as she turned the corner. The very same one they had collided at.

"This is good," Krista mumbled, taking a much needed gulp of her own drink, but she honestly didn't know if she was talking about the drink or the encounter. Perhaps both, she mused, and she smiled as she took her sweet time walking back to the classroom.

Lunch completely slipped her mind.

* * *

A/N: Well this might be a disaster, but... I hope I keep enough enthusiasm and inspiration to keep this going. I certainly have a ton of ideas, and... Well, I hope videogames and college don't get in the way haha

That aside, I want to pioneer the Annie/Krista ship. As a sidenote, I have not decided yet if this story will end with Ymir/Krista or Annie/Krista, even though I love Ymir to death. As for other pairings, that remains to be seen.

Hope you enjoyed, and ta taa for now

(yes, the title is from nano's song. Bless that girl and her voice)


End file.
